Bangladesh tribunal sentences senior Awami League leader to death over uprising killings
Mahbubul Alam Hanif was sentenced in absentia over six killings during the 2024 uprising. Three other party leaders received life sentences, AFP reported.
A Bangladesh tribunal sentenced Awami League joint general secretary Md Mahbubul Alam Hanif to death in absentia on Thursday, 29 October 2026, over the killings of six people in western Kushtia district during the 2024 uprising, according to AFP. Three other party leaders received life sentences in the same case, extending the prosecutions that followed the unrest that ended Sheikh Hasina’s rule.
The Hindu, reporting by PTI, identified the three-member tribunal as a panel led by Justice Nozrul Islam Chowdhury, with Justices Md. Manjurul Bashid and Nur Mohammad Shahriar Kabir. It reported that all four defendants were tried in absentia and were absconding.
Property order and response to the verdict
Chief prosecutor Md Aminul Islam told reporters the charges against the four men had been proved, AFP reported. He said the tribunal had also ordered the confiscation of half their immovable property, with the proceeds to compensate families of people killed or injured during the uprising. PTI also reported the order to confiscate half the men’s property.
State-appointed defence lawyer Md Amir Hossain called the verdict ‘unacceptable,’ according to AFP. PTI reported broader criticism of the tribunal: Hasina and Awami League leaders have called it a ‘kangaroo court,’ while Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and prominent jurists have questioned the fairness of the trials.
The 2024 uprising and earlier death sentences
The killings occurred during the student-led protests that brought down Hasina’s government in August 2024. As many as 1,400 people were killed between July and August that year as her government attempted to suppress the uprising, according to a United Nations estimate cited by AFP. Hasina’s 15-year rule ended when she fled to India.
Hasina was sentenced to death in absentia in November 2025. PTI reported that she and former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal were sentenced on 17 November that year. It described Hanif as the 23rd Awami League leader to receive a death sentence since Hasina’s ouster.
AFP reported that the latest verdict brought the number of people convicted of crimes related to the uprising to 72. It said 23 had been sentenced to death, but only four of those people were in custody. The full judgment has not been released in the reports; the prosecutor’s account describes the property order, while the defence lawyer rejects the verdict.
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Sources and context
- Bangladesh court sentences senior Sheikh Hasina ally to death over uprising killingsCNA, reporting by AFP
- Bangladesh's tribunal sentences Awami League leader to deathThe Hindu, reporting by PTI
AI-assisted article checked against the listed sources. NewsJaws did not conduct interviews or attend the reported events.